SYDNEY: An Air India Dreamliner touched down in Australia, marking the resumption of direct flights by the carrier after a 16-year gap as it seeks to tap a potentially lucrative market.
Air India’s country manager Ravi Bodade said he was confident of regularly filling the daily services that also go via Melbourne on the 256-seat Boeing 787-880 Dreamliner planes.
“It is a state-of-the-art aircraft, and we have a large Indian diaspora here — there is a huge student community and we are confident of filling up the aircraft,” he said.
No other airlines fly directly between the two countries with Australian flag carrier Qantas halting its unprofitable Sydney-Mumbai service in 2009.
According to Sydney Airport, India has been Australia’s largest unserved market, with 140,000 passengers last year traveling between New Delhi and Sydney via Asian hubs.
Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said direct flights were essential if Australia was to secure its share of the 50 million Indians expected to be traveling outside their own country by the end of this decade.
“India is one of our fastest-growing inbound markets, particularly among leisure travelers, who have Australia high up on their wish list of international holiday destinations,” he said.
“With Indian arrivals up nearly eight percent so far this year, the demand is clearly there and I have little doubt that Air India’s re-entry into the Australian market will be widely and warmly applauded by both Indian travelers and by tourism operators here in Australia.”
Despite Indian arrivals booming, Qantas said it had no plans to resume a direct service.
“Qantas International has a large presence in Asia — together with our partners we offer 130 flights per week between Australia and 11 of the region’s major cities — and India is part of our network through our alliance with Jet Airways,” a spokesman said.
“However, we have no plans to resume direct flights to India at this stage.”
Diplomatic ties between Delhi and Canberra have been strained in recent years after a spate of violent crimes against Indian students prompted street protests, but Australia remains a popular destination for both foreign students and tourists.
The Air India arrival was the first in Australia by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has suffered a series of problems since coming into service, including a global grounding of its fleet this year over battery system problems.
Qantas has 14 on order but their delivery has been delayed until later this year.
Air India resumes direct flights to Australia
Air India resumes direct flights to Australia
Supplier hub to anchor Saudi car industry, says TASARU CEO
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is stepping up efforts to localize automotive manufacturing, with its portfolio company TASARU announcing partnerships with five Tier-1 global suppliers to localize advanced component manufacturing in the Kingdom.
The agreements were announced at the fourth PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh. TASARU also revealed plans to establish a new Supplier Hub in the King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City, designed to support next-generation vehicle development and strengthen the national automotive ecosystem in alignment with Vision 2030.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the forum, Michael Mueller, CEO of TASARU, said: “You cannot build cars without having the right partners from the supplier side, and with that, together with the OEMs, we selected the partners that we just announced today to localize them.”
He added that the presence of large international suppliers is expected to attract smaller Tier-2 and Tier-3 manufacturers, helping the ecosystem scale.
The five partners include Shin Young for metal stamping and body structures, JVIS for exterior plastics, and BENTELER for chassis and hot-formed steel components. Guangxi Fangxin will supply interior systems, while Lear Corp. completes the group, with all expected to establish manufacturing operations in the Kingdom.
Founded more than three years ago, TASARU was established to introduce new technologies into Saudi Arabia’s mobility sector. The company has prioritized localizing smaller OEM and supplier businesses while bringing next-generation solutions into the Kingdom.
Mueller said visible progress on factory construction by Ceer, Lucid and Hyundai is shifting perceptions about the sector’s viability.
“A lot of people on the sideline watched whether automotive is really happening,” he said. “Now they recognize that the factories … are under construction, so that’s the first signal that it’s not just the bubble. It’s not just PowerPoint. It’s getting real now on the ground.”
The CEO shares that KAEC is positioned as a hub for Saudi Arabia’s automotive industry, making it a strategic location for the TASARU Supplier Hub. The facility is designed to support OEMs and next-generation vehicles, including Ceer and Lucid Motors, through a shared, just-in-time manufacturing model with integrated logistics and regulatory support.
TASARU will provide infrastructure and operational support, while partners bring technical expertise and gradually develop training centers to build a local workforce, Mueller said.
He positioned Saudi Arabia as an attractive base for global suppliers because of its access to minerals and rare earth resources, energy availability and coordination across PIF portfolio companies and government entities.
“They have access to minerals. They have access to rare earth. They can benefit from what is already existing. They have stable energy solutions. I think this footprint might benefit from the whole ecosystem as it is, not just automotive,” he said.
Companies without a Saudi footprint risk missing a “huge opportunity,” Mueller added.
He said advancing the industry will require clearer regulatory frameworks, including defined trigger points and licensing pathways that allow companies to execute their mandates.
“Of course, you need to have more or less the regulatory framework to allow autonomous cars, sooner or later, on the streets. But it's happening, and this is a huge chance also for Saudi Arabia,” Muller said.
He added: “If you are advanced in bringing such regulations onto a fast track, then you have a huge opportunity to be one of the first countries that establish this.”
With rising traffic levels in Riyadh, Mueller said emerging mobility technologies could help solve first- and last-mile transportation challenges.
“If the Metro is already full, that is good because people are using it. Now, you have to connect the dots. You have to finally make sure that people get from home to the metros and or to the bus station. So this first last-mile transportation is something where new technologies might help to bridge that,” he said.
The CEO said the project is expected to take roughly one and a half to two years for suppliers to go live. More broadly, the initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s transition from investment attraction to full-scale industrial localization, strengthening local content, private-sector participation, and long-term industrial resilience in line with Vision 2030.
